It used to be that having Wi-Fi at a coffee shop was a selling point, but according to this article in the LA Times, many coffee shops are starting to take Wi-Fi off the menu. Maybe it’s just me, but this seems crazy. I pretty much expect it nowadays. Don’t you? These cafes say they want to save money but I wonder if they won’t just be alienating customers.

I guess we’re lucky because we don’t have to worry about that. We can take super fast Internet with us wherever we go : )

3 responses to “Taking Wi-Fi Off the Menu?”

There are a lot of stores/coffee shops that are taking away Wi-Fi (probably after seeing that the cost of it is still more than the extra customers it attracts), but I think the trend is still in favor of stores offering Wi-Fi.

The problem is that a lot of customers come in, buy a cup of coffee, then take up space for three or four hours. I think a better solution would be to have a policy that requires customers to buy something every hour or so — one of my local shops does this, and it works out well: it weeds out the people who are just there for the cheap connection, and it makes sure the store doesn’t lose money.